Bookless at Madison Public Library

Ever since fire consumed the Library of Alexandria, bibliophiles have been captivated by stories of epic endings to libraries. Madison, Wisconsin recently contributed a memorable ending, answering the question: “What would happen if we cleared all the books out of the Central Library, handed the debris-strewn three-story building over to a bunch of artists, live bands, and DJs, and invited the community to a giant one-day-only party?”

The answer was Bookless, which drew more than 5,000 people to the send-off event for Madison’s now-former downtown library. The Onion’s A.V. Club posted a Bookless video by jazz/rock band Lovely Socialite that does a nice job of capturing the feel of the event and some of the art (yes, the butterflies at 4:45 are made of microfiche), including the somewhat terrifying dragon skeleton leering over the "Bibliotheque Discotheque" in the basement and the pneumatic-tube powered “Ask the Oracle” booth.

For more on Bookless, see Madison Public Library's Bookless a Hit and the MPL Foundation’s Bookless in the News.

—Marc Gartler, Madison Public Library

LibraryLab posts come courtesy of the American Library Association member interest group Library Boing Boing.

• [Noctilucent Studios]

  If the library at Alexandria hadn’t been burned to the ground, we might well be living in an interstellar civilization right now.

• [Arys]

  Looks like quite the happenin’  “happening”

• [Sweeny]

  The concept reminds me somewhat of “the Librarium” from Rainbow’s End

• [neko]

  I attended the daytime art event. Wasn’t able to attend the dance party.

  Anyways, I posted a few photos of the art to flickr, if anyone is curious.

  http://www.flickr.com/photos/neko_chan/sets/72157629071086431/

• [License Farm]

  I went to school almost an hour south of Madison; were I there now, I would have loved to attend this. (Of course, if I was who I was then I might have been oblivious to it.) Thanks for posting this; it looked delightful.

• [ispock]

  My family attended this wonderful event!  My 10 year old son had the time of his life figuring out how to work an old microfiche, exploring the basement, asking the Oracle a question, and throwing hundreds of old card catalog cards into a big glass-walled display.   It was a really great community event.